Shorts from Scenes from Private Life

In a narrow, damp Paris street, a mother and daughter work by a window while passersby speculate about their lives. The daughter earns her living at an embroidery frame; her mother makes netting and watches the men who pass each morning. Balzac builds this opening scene from household objects, weak lamplight and flowers struggling on the sill. The contrast between the carefully kept rooms and the unhealthy alley makes poverty a physical presence in the story.

Elsewhere in these tales, a notary recounts his visit to Madame de Merret and the unusual will that governs her country house. Formal legal instructions acquire an unsettling force through his recollection of the encounter. Close observation links the domestic scene with this account of private distress: rooms, gestures and possessions become clues to the people around them. Readers interested in social detail and the telling of secrets will find both in Balzac's attention to ordinary objects and uneasy conversations.